Fitting out London’s finest buildings
It’s no secret that trees are important to us at Brown & Carroll. Our Time4Trees programme is based on our commitment to plant six trees for every cubic metre of timber we use. And this Autumn, we’ve donated more saplings across London and the South East.
In October, there was a welcome pause in the rain, for our trip to Abberton Reservoir. Paul Carroll, Managing Director and Trevor Baker, Senior Health & Safety Manager, visited the Essex Wildlife Trust site, to see the hedgerow plants and trees we’ve supplied.
Since 2016, we’ve donated 18,000 trees, bushes and hedging plants to Abberton. And we hope to support Abberton with further projects in the future.
Looking for new sites is vital if we’re to maintain our commitment to tree planting. So, we’re thrilled that this year we’ve begun working with Thames Water. From 2020 to 2025, Thames Water has committed to enhance biodiversity by 5% at 253 of its sites. And, along with 11 other UK water and sewerage companies, Thames Water has signed a commitment to collectively plant 11 million trees by 2030.
In November, we went to Thames Water’s flagship site, Walthamstow Wetlands. It was our first opportunity to visit the site and see the 730 hedgerow saplings, and biodegradable tree guards, that we’ve donated.
The hedgerow has been planted alongside a pond, and it’s hoped that as the saplings grow, the hedgerow will provide a habitat for nesting birds and some protection for Smooth Newts. But when you visit the site it’s clear that it’s not only the wildlife who will benefit. The Wetlands is an important place for the local community too.
Our second Thames Water site is Beddington Sewage Treatment Works (STW), which serves a population of around 421,000 people. The site is larger than Walthamstow and for this project, we’ve donated 6,420 saplings and tree guards. Half have been planted as ‘pocket planting’, using a style known as the Miyawaki method, which aims to plant denser habitats that are more biodiverse and climate resilient.
The second half of the saplings have been laid as a standard hedgerow to shelter the land around the STW from the road.
